Denison University faculty, staff housing under construction; 29 units set to open in July

Denison University has officially broken ground on a new employee housing project located off New Burg Street. Phase 1 of the construction is underway, with completion expected by May and move-in set for July.

This phase of the project began in March and will feature 29 apartment units ranging in size from 680 to 1,700 square feet.

The development aims to provide affordable housing for Denison faculty and staff. Beginning in 2019, it has evolved as local housing costs continue to rise, making it difficult for employees to find affordable accommodations in the area.

“I’ve heard the concerns from employees and faculty members that it’s hard to find rentals in Granville, and they’re happy we’re doing this,” Chief Financial Officer David English said. “I’ve also talked to the people at the Licking County Coalition for Housing and community members who recognize that Granville needs more rental housing.”

In 2023, English told Granville Village Council that in recent years, there has been a steady decline in the number of Denison employees living in Granville.

“In the 1990s and early 2000s, we averaged 40-50% of our employees living in ZIP code 43023. In 2019-2020, that dropped down to 39%. In 2023, for the people we hired through April, it’s 28%,” he told the council.

Each unit will be available to rent for Denison faculty and staff under a four-year lease.

“The idea is that this gives (Denison employees) a chance to settle into Denison and into the community before ultimately deciding where they want to live,” English said.

Denison University studied the preferences of potential renters and tailored the apartment options to align with survey results. The complex will include six different floor plans, with the smallest unit being a one-bedroom at about 700 square feet and the largest being a three-bedroom unit at nearly 1,700 square feet. The variety was designed to accommodate living situations that might include families or roommates.

Parking options will also be available for residents, including uncovered surface parking, car shelters and a few garages for which renters will pay an additional fee. The university plans to assess demand before moving forward with any additional parking developments.

The project received final approval from the village council and county commissioners in early January for the construction of up to 69 units on the 30-acre site.

“This is not very dense for the site,” English said. “We’re preserving a lot more green space than a typical developer would.”

Apartment units will be all-electric in order to avoid fossil fuels for heating and cooling. The units will also include water retention basins.

“This will actually improve runoff from the site,” English said. “Engineers say it will reduce runoff from the field because we’re capturing it; more water is going to stay on site.”

A comprehensive traffic study, which the university funded and indicated the new development would not significantly affect local traffic patterns, addressed community concerns about increased traffic on New Burg Street, which also houses Granville Middle and High schools.

“(The traffic study) raised two red flags in terms of generating traffic, but it’s not going to be invisible either,” Village Manager Herb Koehler said.

Granville’s first roundabout was recently built at North Pearl and New Burg streets in order to improve traffic patterns in the area.

“We’ve heard from the school district that their congestion times have been lowered by half, going from around 15 or 20 minutes to less than 10,” Koehler said. “And that’s attributed to the roundabout.”

Additionally, a walking path from the apartment complex to campus will be established for Denison employees to improve accessibility and reduce the need for motorized transportation.

Denison will not move forward with the construction of Phase 2 until the current units are rented and the university has received feedback from residents.

“Unlike a typical developer, we’re not sitting on large bank loans to build it. We’re building it for employees,” English said. “From what we’ve heard, there is a waiting list already, and it’ll rent up. But if it turns out that people would rather live in the Short North (in Columbus), then we don’t need to move ahead with Phase 2.”

“We as a community can benefit from having (Denison) staff and faculty in the community full time,” Koehler said. “It will make our village a little bit more vibrant.”

Selah Griffin writes for TheReportingProject.org , the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers .

This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Denison University faculty, staff housing under construction; 29 units set to open in July